“That was awful.”
“Yes, it was.”
“I know.”
Josh started to speak, but I raised a hand.
I wasn’t finished.
“I probably would have helped you if you’d told me the truth,” I said. “If you’d said your father needed you and you were falling behind, I might have taken a load or two. I might have kept the kids while you went to see him. But you didn’t ask me for help. You assigned me a job.”
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“What hurt wasn’t the laundry. What hurt was you deciding that because I’m retired and home more than you are, my time didn’t count.”
She wiped at her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at Josh.
“And you.”
He blinked.
“Me?”
“When she told me I was home all day, you stared at your plate.”
“I should have said something.”
“You should have.”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
I pointed toward Vanessa.
“But there’s something else you should be sorry about too.”
He followed my gaze.
“You let her get overloaded because everything kept getting done.”
Vanessa looked at me then. Really looked at me.
The anger she’d had when she came downstairs was gone.
Josh shifted uncomfortably.
